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"Oyster Eater on
The Louisiana Gulf
Coast."
The history of the
Gulf Coast is an
important part of
United States
history; as
economically
important as the
Gulf Coast is to the
United States today,
it arguably once
held an even greater
position of
prominence in the
U.S.
The first Europeans
to settle the Gulf
Coast were primarily
the French and the
Spanish. The
Louisiana Purchase,
the Texas
Revolution, and the
Mexican–American War
made the Gulf Coast
a part of the United
States during first
half of the 19th
century. As the U.S.
population continued
to expand its
frontiers westward,
the Gulf Coast was a
natural magnet in
the South providing
access to shipping
lanes and both
national and
international
commerce. The
development of sugar
and cotton
production (enabled
by slavery) allowed
the South to
prosper. By the mid
19th century, the
South, including the
Gulf, by some
standards was
populated by the
nation's wealthiest
people. The city of
New Orleans in
particular, being
situated as a key to
commerce on the
Mississippi River
and in the Gulf, had
become the largest
U.S. city not on the
Atlantic seaboard
and the fourth
largest in the U.S.
overall. |
